THERE is no way the government can lick communist insurgency, contrary to the government’s much-vaunted campaign to weed out from the face of the archipelago this nagging socio-political malady in the next two or three years.
The armed rebellion espoused by our comrades in the hills, which even the despotic Ferdinand E. Marcos failed to crush, will live on for as long as we have a democratic system that is corrupt, spineless, and oppressive of the interests of the poor and the marginalized. And -- quite absurdly but more specifically -- for as long as we have this so-called clean, orderly and peaceful elections that take place every three years.
With the elections just over, perhaps the smartest people hereabouts are the members of the New People’s Army, the Philippines’ most-dreaded armed communist group whose comrades are now laughing their way to the bank. Because of the elections, these armed rebels even without firing a single shot have amassed millions of cash (no checks or pledges allowed) from thousands of candidates nationwide who are so obsessed with grabbing an elective position to gain power, influence and wealth.
And it looked like no one was spared from the rebels’ extortionist activity, save for those who mainly campaigned in urban areas where the insurgency’s presence was not felt.
Unperturbed, the rebels usurped large chunks of campaign money through which they called “Permit-to-Campaign (PTC)” and “Permit-to-Win (PTW)” fees that invariably range from thousands of pesos to hundreds of thousands of pesos and to millions of pesos, depending on what higher or lower position a candidate is seeking. Without these “permits”, candidates were warned against campaigning in the hinterlands or in remote barangays, which were deemed infested with or under the influence of the rebel movement. “Permit-to-Win” was the newest rebel package which hinted that a solicitous candidate could be bolstered to win more votes in rural barangays for a separate, more expensive fee. Whether or not the rebels made extra effort to muscle up a candidate’s chances, no one could say. Not even the paying candidate, winner or loser afterwards, could dare to ask after the ballots had been tabulated.
The amount that the rebels collect every election alarms the military forces. Its staggering amount, they say, can buy enough weaponry to arm a rebel force that can put a whole region of six provinces on its knees.
This paper in the heat of the campaign was dispatched with a report that a Bicol gubernatorial candidate parted away some P20 million to the NPA to allow him to campaign freely in all barangays and make goodwill with the rebels in the process. Unconfirmed report also reached us that no less than a presidential son seeking a congressional seat ultimately threw in a large fortune amounting to millions of pesos after initially rejecting to secure his PTC because doing so would embarrass his mom who happens to be the AFP’s commander-in-chief and arch foe of the insurgency movement. It was said that GMA’s son needed to campaign in remote barangays to improve his chances as it worried his advisers to learn that his poll rival, vaunted as a poor man’s candidate, was making the rounds among the village people even without the rebels asking for his PTC, perhaps a smart ploy to make the presidential son feel edgy and thus force him to pay.
By our estimate, the total amount collected through the PTC and PTW nationwide, if handled judiciously by an accountant, would be reasonably enough to arm and feed the whole rebel movement for the succeeding three years before the next election comes. The vicious cycle will go on where the rebels float and flow over the government’s toothless taunt to exterminate them in due time. And the rebels will become stronger, with enough funds to recruit even more members with every election, because the increasing number of people who want to serve the government and by their mandate vow to fight the enemies of the state have become the very source of the insurgents’ strength.
